HIST312: Capitalism and Democracy in America

Unit 4: The American Revolution, 1750-1800This unit examines the reasons why Britain’s American colonies rebelled
and investigates the consequences of that decision. We will pay
particular attention to the role that America’s pre-capitalist economy
played in pushing the colonies to rebel and the ways in which economic
growth created conditions favorable to increased political
participation.

Unit 4 Time Advisory
This unit should take you 11.5 hours to complete.

☐ Introduction: 1 hour

☐ Subunit 4.1: 1 hour

☐ Subunit 4.2: 1 hour

☐ Subunit 4.3: 2 hours

☐ Subunit 4.4: 2.5 hours

☐ Subunit 4.5: 4 hours

Unit4 Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

Identify the economic consequences of the Seven Years War for
British North America.

Identify the various economic systems in existence in Revolutionary
North America.

Identify the economic and political causes and effects of the
American Revolution.

Identify the economic consequences of the Seven Years War for
British North America.

Identify the structure of the United States’ federal government.

Identify and describe various interpretations of the U.S.
Constitution vis a vis economics and democracy.

Instructions: Please listen to Professor Jack Rakove’s entire
50-minute lecture to better understand the relationship between
slavery and economic and political development in the southern
colonies/states of Revolutionary America.

About the link: This website hosts free lectures from the nation’s
top universities in a wide array of academic subjects.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.

Note: You must disable pop-up blockers before attempting to view
the video.

Instructions: Please listen to Professor Eugen Weber’s entire
30-minute lecture to get a sense of how the British created a
society that “…tested Enlightenment ideas and resisted restrictions
imposed by England.” After clicking the hyperlink, a new webpage
should open. Toggle down to the appropriate lecture and click the
box labeled “VoD” on the right – this will open another box that
will display the lecture.

About the link: This website an entire series of lectures produced
by WGBH Boston called “The Western Tradition.”

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.

Instructions: Please listen to Professor Jack Rakove’s entire
50-minute lecture to better appreciate the symbiotic relationship of
economic and political development in the northern colonies/states
of British North America.

About the link: This website hosts free lectures from the nation’s
top universities in a wide array of academic subjects.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.

4.5 The American Constitution
- Reading: Wikibooks’ US History: “Constitution Early Years”
Link: Wikibooks’ US History:“Constitution Early
Years”
(PDF)

Instructions: Please read the entirety of his entry, which
discusses the development of the US constitution.

About the link: This online text was developed by Wikibooks as an
open educational resource for use in undergraduate history
courses.

Terms of Use: The article above is released under a [Creative
Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License
3.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) (HTML). You
can find the original version of this article
[here](http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/US_History/Constitution_Early_Years)
(HTML).

Reading: National Archives and Records Administration: U.S.
Constitution
Link: National Archives and Records Administration: U.S.
Constitution
(PDF)

Instructions: Please read the entirety of the United States
Constitution in order to better understand how the Founders
envisioned citizens participating in the new national government and
the Founders’ attitudes about the relationship between economics and
America’s political institutions. To view in PDF format, please
follow the "PDF" link above; the link is at the bottom right of the
page.

About the link: This is a transcription of the United States
Constitution in its original form. Items that are hyperlinked have
since been amended or superseded. The United States Constitution
was drafted in the summer of 1787 and ratified (agreed upon) by most
of the thirteen original states over the following year. The
Constitution lays out the basic institutions of the United States
federal government and their function while an ancillary document –
the Bill of Rights, or the first ten amendments to the Constitution
– places limitations on the power of government to infringe upon
individual property, religious, and political rights.

This material is part of the public domain.

Lecture: C-SPAN/The New York Historical Society, “James Madison
and the Constitution”
Link: C-SPAN/The New York Historical Society, “James Madison and
the Constitution”
(Youtube)

Instructions: Please watch the entire 60-minute debate to better
understand the American Constitution.

About the link: This website an entire series of lectures produced
by C-SPAN and the New York Historical Society.

Terms of Use: Terms of Use: The material above was produced by
C-SPAN, with permission granted for non-commercial use with no
modifications to the material. The original version can be found
here http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/281562-1.

Instructions: Please read the entirety of this document to better
understand the philosophical and economic underpinnings of the
constitution. Madison was heavily involved in assembling the
Constitutional Convention and writing the Constitution, and the
Federalist Papers (of which this reading is one) were a series of
articles written by Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay in
defense of the proposed Constitution and arguing that states should
ratify it.
About the link: This online text is part of a comprehensive
database at Yale Law School chronicling the history of law and
diplomacy.
Terms of use: This material is part of the public domain.

4.5.2 The U.S. Constitution and Property Rights: Did the Founders
sacrifice democracy to protect property rights?
- Reading: Charles Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the
Constitution of the United States: “Chapter I: Historical
Interpretation of the United States” & “Chapter VI: The Constitution
as an Economic Document”
Link: Charles Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution
of the United States:Chapter
I
(HTML) & Chapter
VI
(HTML)

Also available in:

[PDF](http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=rendering&return_to=An+Economic+Interpretation+of+the+Constitution+of+the+United+States%2FChapter+VI&collection_id=05206ffd4f8f12ff&writer=rl)
[Google
Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=P9QpAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Charles+Beard,+An+Economic+Interpretation+of+the+Constitution+of+the+United+States&hl=en&ei=u7CgTIP5I8P-8AbK2pXuDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false)
Instructions: Please read the entirety of these two chapters to
understand Beard’s seminal (and highly controversial) interpretation
of the origins of the Constitution.
About the link: This online text is based on Charles Beard’s *An
Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States*,
published in 1921. It has since entered the public domain.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.